1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a knee airbag and a method of folding the same, and more particularly, to a knee airbag which is installed at a lower crash panel of a vehicle to protect driver's knees or passenger's knees and smoothly deployed without any interference with the lower crash panel during deployment of an airbag, and a method of folding the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, various kinds of safety devices are installed at a vehicle to protect passengers from accidents occurring during running of the vehicle, for example, collision, rear-end collision, rollover, and so on. Such safety devices include a safety belt, an airbag, and so on, which absorbs shock even though the passengers may collide with a vehicle body upon occurrence of an accident.
The airbags are installed at a steering wheel in front of a driver's seat to protect a driver, and installed at an instrument panel in front of a passenger's seat to protect a passenger. In addition, side airbags or curtain airbags are installed to protect passengers on backseats.
In particular, a knee airbag for protecting driver's knees or passenger's knees is installed at a cowl bracket under a steering wheel or installed under an instrument panel.
An example of such a knee airbag is disclosed in Korean Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2003-50611 (hereinafter, referred to as “Conventional Art 1”), entitled “Air Bag System for Knee Protection of Driver,” which is shown in FIGS. 1A to 1C.
As shown in FIGS. 1A to 1C, a knee airbag 10 of Conventional Art 1 includes an inflator unit 11 installed inside a lower crash pad 3 to be exploded according to control of an airbag control unit, and an airbag tube 12 deployed from the lower crash pad 3 to a shroud panel 2 by an expansion gas injected upon explosion of the inflator unit 11.
In addition, the knee airbag further includes an airbag cover 14 surrounding the airbag tube 12, fixed to the lower crash pad 3 through the medium of a plurality of fixing members 13, separated from the lower crash pad 3 upon deployment of the airbag tube 12, and avoiding any interference with the airbag tube 12 and peripheral components to prevent damage to the airbag tube 12, and an airbag fixing means 15 for connecting a tip of the airbag tube 12 disposed adjacent to the shroud panel 2 to a predetermined part of the shroud panel 2 and guiding a deployment direction such that the tip of the airbag tube 12 is deployed into the shroud panel 2 upon explosion of the inflator unit 11.
The airbag of Conventional Art 1 protects driver's knees through expansion of the airbag upon occurrence of a vehicle accident.
Further, another example of such a knee airbag is disclosed in Korean Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2005-93843 (hereinafter, referred to as “Conventional Art 2”), entitled “Knee Protection Apparatus for Vehicle Occupant,” which is shown in FIGS. 2A to 2C.
As shown in FIGS. 2A to 2C, a knee airbag module 10′ of Conventional Art 2 is fixed to an instrument panel reinforcement part 23 through a panel 21 and left/right brackets 22, and to a bottom part 24a of an instrument panel 24 through the panel 21.
The knee airbag 10′ includes an airbag 11′, an inflator 12′ for supplying a gas into the airbag 11′ upon a vehicle collision, an airbag case 13′ accommodating the airbag 11′ and the inflator 12′, and an airbag cover 14′ covering the airbag case 13′.
Furthermore, the airbag cover 14′ is attached to the airbag case 13′ and a panel 21 to cover a rear opening 13a of the airbag case 13′ and an opening 21a of the panel 21, and a rectangular door part 14a is installed at a position corresponding to the rear opening 13a of the airbag case 13′ and the opening 21a of the panel 21.
In addition, a relatively thin binge part 14c is formed at a lower periphery of the door part 14a such that the door part 14a is opened downward upon expansion of the airbag 11′.